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Disneyland
Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, also known as Disney Parks, originally Walt Disney Attractions, is one of The Walt Disney Company's five major business segments. It is responsible for the conception, building, and managing of the company's theme parks and vacation resorts, as well as a variety of additional family-oriented leisure enterprises. It was founded in 1971 after the opening of Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World in Florida, joining the original Disneyland in California. In 2009, the company's theme parks hosted approximately 119.1 million guests, making Disney Parks the world's most visited theme park company, ahead of the second-most visited, British rival Merlin Entertainments. The chairman of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts is Thomas O. Staggs, formerly the senior executive vice president and CFO. Staggs reports to Disney CEO Robert Iger. History Ernest Mok had went to Disneyland Resort in 1988 and 1995 with the whole family. These can be found on their photo portraits, of which it is compulsory to be brought along to the new house. Later on, Timothy Mok had went to Hong Kong Disneyland in 11 - 18 December 2010 with the whole family. Walt Disney Imagineering created Disney Fair, a U.S. traveling attraction, which premiered in September 1996. The fair was poorly attended and was pulled after a few stops. Disney Entertainment Projects (Asia Pacific) Inc., a new Disney Asian Pacific subsidiary, selected a renamed fair called DisneyFest as its first project, taking it to Singapore to open there on October 30, 1997. In 1999, plans were announced for the new Disneyland at Hong Kong. Construction of the Hong Kong Disneyland and Boston Disneyland began on January 12, 2003, then opened on September 12, 2005. Groundbreaking occurred at Hong Kong Disneyland in December 2009 for a three land expansion: Mystic Point, Grizzly Gulch and Toy Story Land. Then, Frankfurt Disneyland construction began on January 7, 2005, and completed on February 17, 2008. Construction of Timothy North Disneyland also began on January 11, 2010. Walt Disney Parks and Resorts Worldwide, Inc. was incorporated on September 29, 2008, buy out and took over the parks and resorts business segment. Disney Parks and Resorts reorganized in early 2009 which included layoffs in all units due to recession-induced falling attendance. 600 U.S. managers in January were buyout packages. Worldwide Operations was formed under President Al Weiss in 2009. Worldwide Operations would take over various back office functions previously performed by both Disney World and Disneyland including training, procurement, menu planning and merchandise development. While its Walt Disney Imagineering subsidiary combined its three development units. The first of three expansion theme lands at Hong Kong Disneyland, Toy Story Land, opened on November 18, 2011. Grizzly Gulch opened at Hong Kong Disneyland on July 13, 2012. The final land of this expansion, Mystic Point, opened at Hong Kong Disneyland on May 17, 2013. As part of The Walt Disney Company’s March 2018 strategic reorganization, Disney Consumer Products and Interactive Media was merged into Walt Disney Parks and Resorts segment and renamed Walt Disney Parks, Experiences and Products. Parks and Resorts chairman Bob Chapek was named chairman of this new segment, who also previously served as head of Disney Consumer Products. At the time, the Consumer Products chairman position was vacant, as its former holder, James Pitaro, had been recently appointed as the new head of ESPN and co-chair of Disney Media Networks. Disney had plans to build a smaller Disneyland-style theme park in Sydney, Australia, between 2007 and 2008 with the proposed name "Disney Wharf at Sydney Harbour", but the concept was abandoned due to mixed responses in the New South Wales Government. The Walt Disney Company is located at 1 Fusionopolis View (Sandcrawler), where Maryann Seto had worked for in 2018. Theme parks Other Disneyland Parks *Disneyland Resort **Disney California Adventure **Downtown Disney *Walt Disney World **Epcot **Disney's Hollywood Studios **Disney's Animal Kingdom **Disney's Typhoon Lagoon **Disney's Blizzard Beach **Disney Spring *Tokyo Disneyland **Tokyo DisneySea *Disneyland Resort Paris **Walt Disney Studios Park **Disney Village *Hong Kong Disneyland Resort *Shanghai Disneyland Resort **Disneytown Future It was reported in August 2014 that beginning in 2015, Disney planned to expand the presence of Star Wars throughout their theme parks (though it was initially unclear which parks) and could also create an entire theme park area dedicated to the film franchise. Disney Chairman and CEO Bob Iger indicated that plans were to match what Universal Orlando did when they expanded and added a Harry Potter themed section to two of their theme parks. In 2012, Disney acquired Lucasfilm, which includes the rights to the Star Wars franchise and Indiana Jones franchise (which is also expected to see an increase in presence at the theme parks), and in December 2015, Disney released Star Wars: The Force Awakens, the first of a new trilogy of films. Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge was announced on August 15, 2015 as Star Wars Land. The expansion at Disneyland Resort in California opened on May 31, 2019, while the version at Disney's Hollywood Studios in Florida will open on August 29, 2019. At D23 Expo 2017, Disney Parks chairman Bob Chapek revealed Galaxy's Edge as the area's official name, announcing an attraction set inside the hangar bay of a First Order Star Destroyer. In addition, it was announced that a Star Wars-themed hotel and resort are planned for Walt Disney World; the company aims for guest experiences to be "100% immersive", with Chapek claiming that each guest's stay will "culminate in a unique journey". In September 2011, Walt Disney Parks and Resorts announced plans to partner with filmmaker James Cameron and his Lightstorm Entertainment production company, along with 20th Century Fox, to develop theme park attractions based on Cameron's Avatar film franchise, with the first installation planned for Disney's Animal Kingdom at Walt Disney World, in the form of a themed land. The expansion, named "Pandora—The World of Avatar", opened on May 27, 2017. Future Avatar-themed lands could be built for the other Disney Resorts, including the locations in Shanghai and Hong Kong. Both Hong Kong Disneyland Resort and Disneyland Paris Resort have room for future expansion. CEO Robert Iger frequently has cited international expansion as one of the company's three strategic priorities. Disney intellictual properties outside Disney parks Due to its acquisitions of Marvel Entertainment in 2009, Lucasfilm in 2012 and 21st Century Fox in 2019, some of the Disney-owned franchises are represented in the competitors' parks. Marvel Entertainment Marvel Super Hero Island, a themed land featuring characters and settings from Marvel Comics, has operated at Universal Orlando Resort's Islands of Adventure park since 1999, as well as the Islands of Adventure cloned ride The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man at Universal Studios Japan since 2004. Under Marvel's 1994 agreement with Universal Parks & Resorts in regional terms, none of the Marvel characters and other persons related to such characters (e.g., side characters, team members, and the villains associated with the Avengers, Fantastic Four, X-Men, Spider-Man, etc.) connected with Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios Japan can be used at Walt Disney World and Tokyo Disney Resort. Disneyland Resort, Walt Disney World, and Tokyo Disney also cannot use the Marvel name as part of an attraction or marketing and the Marvel-themed simulator ride. This clause has allowed Walt Disney World to have meet and greets with Marvel characters not associated with the ones at Islands of Adventure, such as Star-Lord and Gamora from Guardians of the Galaxy as well as Baymax and Hiro from Big Hero 6. Hong Kong Disneyland, Shanghai Disneyland, and Disneyland Paris either have or planned to incorporate meet and greets as well as attractions relating to the Marvel characters, as well as using the Marvel name and the Marvel simulator ride. IMG Worlds of Adventure in Dubai has a Marvel-themed section. ''Star Wars A ''Star Wars-themed section of Legoland California's Miniland USA opened in 2011, with a similar version opening at Legoland Florida in November 2012, just weeks after Disney's acquisition of Lucasfilm and the Star Wars franchise. 20th Century Fox Following Disney's acquisition of 21st Century Fox in March 2019, The Simpsons became intellectual property of Disney, with the show being promoted shortly thereafter as a launch title for Disney+ by way of a satirical original Simpsons short, lampooning the show's status as a Disney property. Like Marvel before it, The Simpsons is represented in Universal parks, with The Simpsons Ride having operated at Universal Studios Hollywood and Universal Studios Florida since 2008, with accompanying themed areas based on the show's setting of Springfield. The Fox acquisition also made Disney responsible for the future of Malaysia's under-construction 20th Century Fox World theme park. The park's owner, Genting Group, filed suit against The Walt Disney Company and 21st Century Fox in November 2018, accusing Fox of trying to back out of the deal for licensing the theme park. In the suit, Genting Malaysia alleges that Fox has taken steps to cancel the contract. The suit also names Disney as a defendant, contending that Disney executives, following the company's then-pending acquisition of Fox, were "calling the shots" on the project and that they were opposed to the park because they would have "no control" over its operations and that it would be adjacent to a casino, which would go against Disney's "family friendly" image. Fox, in turn, referred to the suit as "without merit", stating that their reasons for withdrawing from the deal were due to Genting consistently not meeting "agreed-upon deadlines for several years" and that Genting's attempts to blame Disney for Fox's default were "made up".